A Great Weekend !

Kim Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:00 am

Yes...the wind blew at a steady 15 knots or better the whole time...we were hosed with rain that originally wasn't supposed to get here 'till today...and I managed to dump a FULL glass of water in my lap at my Cajun Restaurant (much to the entertainment of my pals !)...BUT...I had an entire weekend to myself!!!

No promises, weddings, obligatory arraignments, funeral home visits, family emergencies, dinner dates (except for the crouch-soaking episode on Friday nite), or hospital visits (got a small bit of guilt over THAT one, but Ed's just gonna have to tough it out 'till Saturday!).

Just me and the newly re-roofed Skunk Works...all alone...for two and a half glorious days! Life is GOOD !!!

Patrick did come over late Saturday for some help re-stringing one of his handles with 50 feet of Spider Wire. He's got this weird obsession (OK...I know, I'm a good one to talk) with flying some of his 1/2A's on super-long lines, and I figured, "What the heck?" So, I'm sure to have a post on THAT episode!

He also brought the carcass of an Ebay Cox Sandblaster I'd purchased for him. I'd gotten him a new set of rear wheels and axle for the thing, and helped him set it up with a metal tank and fuel line.

So, sometime after dark on Saturday night, with me using my heavy spotlight to enhance my pole light, we launched this screaming, smoking ground-scooter across the front yard. They folks over in the subdivision have GOT to be worried now that I've gone to night-time operations !

I'm not a "Car Guy", but I have to admit that watching Patrick try to retrieve his free-running pride-and-joy was one of the better times I've had recently! In a way, it would seem to be more entertaining than R/C because of the mystery involved in it's out-come!

Anyway, I told him we could turn it loose on the south ramp at the airport sometime when it's clear of planes (there WILL be video of THAT deal!) .

All that, along with several intense covering/doping sessions may cause me to "Hermit It" again this weekend, after my hospital-visit-run to St.Louis.

Although...there IS that Swap Meet up in Decatur, Illinois......

**Cribbs74** Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:17 am

That does sound like a good weekend Kim. Glad your shop is better protected now. We had a lot of rain here too and I have to admit spending some early morning hours fuel proofing my Satan while the rain fell on the tin roof was very relaxing. I don't normally fuel proof planes at 4:30 AM, but when that rain hit my wife woke me up to tell me the windows were down on my truck. I layed there for a minute thinking "It was made in 1972...it'll be fine" I decided to get up and close them anyway, but that rain was so cold it woke me right up!!!!!

Can't wait to see the video's of your exploits. I can understand wanting to use 50' lines..... I would love to slow these things down once and a while.

Ron

**RknRusty** Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:32 am

Ain't life great! I'm glad you got to play to your heart's desire. Big fun.
In my universe it was time for holiday season house cleaning. Neither of us likes to clean, but when Holley gets on a chore, she bulldogs it.

We usually only seriously clean about 3 times a year, depending on who's coming to visit. And she finally declared us shot, and done for the day... about 3 times. After the second time, about 4:30, I sat down to read the sports section and I hear her say, Look at all these leaves in the carport! Next thing I knew I was hauling out the Shop Vac. Thank goodness she didn't grab the extension cord, because she and I sucked up everything within the cord limit. And it's got a long cord. Even vacuumed the leaves off the grass and driveway.

So, three rooms down, and the rest of the house to go. I'll be tackling most of that this week while she's at work. Today being a holiday for her, I'm hoping she's still tired of working on the house. Oh well, if she didn't light a fire under my ass the place would be a dust pit. At least she approves taking frequent breaks and having a beer throughout the ordeal. What a woman. And still a babe after all these years.

The weather was beautiful. Sunny, 75 and calm. Maybe I can play next week. Yeah, right. sunny

Kim Mon Nov 12, 2012 10:40 am

cribbs74 wrote:That does sound like a good weekend Kim. Glad your shop is better protected now. We had a lot of rain here too and I have to admit spending some early morning hours fuel proofing my Satan while the rain fell on the tin roof was very relaxing. I don't normally fuel proof planes at 4:30 AM, but when that rain hit my wife woke me up to tell me the windows were down on my truck. I layed there for a minute thinking "It was made in 1972...it'll be fine" I decided to get up and close them anyway, but that rain was so cold it woke me right up!!!!!

Can't wait to see the video's of your exploits. I can understand wanting to use 50' lines..... I would love to slow these things down once and a while.

Ron

Man, I'm there a lot! With the exception that I tend to pop awake at odd hours (with the occasional assistance from a 2:00am call-out to fuel medical copters). The cold months are great for this kind of stuff though. I REALLY enjoy cranking up the heater and computer out in the shop on a cold night, for a fun building session, while checking up on you guys.

And...there's the rewarding feeling of coming back later and seeing stuff like this !

andrew Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:11 pm

Kim wrote:...and I managed to dump a FULL glass of water in my lap at my Cajun Restaurant (much to the entertainment of my pals !)...

Much, much better that losing a full glass of beer!!! Very Happy

The planes are looking good --- it's hard to tell on white silkspan, but did you get any blushing from the high humidity?

Did the Buster have a tip weight. That plane was the first large C/L model that I ever built -- all previous had been 1/2A sized. Out of ignorance, I left out the tip weight (I know about tip weights now, but ignorance continues to plague me). My father hand launched it - on the farm, we didn't have any closely mowed areas large enough to ROG. I watched as the in-board wing slowly dropped inward as the plane climbed at a 45 degree angle toward the top of the circle. When it got there, it jerked the handle out of my hand, pivoted 90 degrees and went in straight down on the other side of the circle. Flight time was about 8 seconds -- for a 12 year old, I was devastated since it was a complete writeoff. I'm beginning to get a hankerin' to build another, particularly seeing yours on the bench.

BTW, how's the P/C coming along on the eBay BW.

andrew

Kim Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:24 pm

andrew wrote:
Kim wrote:...and I managed to dump a FULL glass of water in my lap at my Cajun Restaurant (much to the entertainment of my pals !)...

Much, much better that losing a full glass of beer!!!

The planes are looking good --- it's hard to tell on white silkspan, but did you get any blushing from the high humidity?

BTW, how's the P/C coming along on the eBay BW.

andrew

Hey Andrew,

Looks like I got away with a minimum of blushing (poured a shot of retarder in the clear). The humidity wasn't too bad in the shop, and a dehumidifier is on my Walmart list just to help things along!

Yesterday, I was able to knock the Ebay Black Widow's piston out of the cylinder with a wooden dowel, but discovered that somehow, the threads on the glowhead end are REALLY messed up. I never thought to check them after getting the glowhead off the thing, but SOMETHING really screwed them up!

So, I guess it's the junk-box combo for the B.W.

Kim Mon Nov 12, 2012 3:57 pm

Oops, forgot to mention...yes, the Buster still has the gnarled, original chunk of lead that Wayne embedded in ti's wingtip so many moons ago !!!

Ken Cook Mon Nov 12, 2012 5:45 pm

Kim, have you used Brodak dope before? I ask this due to some blushing I encountered using it. I'm used to using Sig and you can practically paint Sig dope on a rainy day. Not the case using Brodak as the thinner is medium evaporative. It will blush and having the retarder in my neck of the woods is a must as I can rarely paint Brodak dope without blushing. I really need a climate controlled area. I did a rubbed out Brodak finish a little over a year ago which turned out beautifully. Good luck , it's looking great. Ken

Kim Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:56 pm

Thanks Ken!

Yeah. Though I do use a lot of the Monokote paints and coverings, Brodak is my main paint, and it CAN blush, though I've gotten away with it on most of my planes. I keep some retarder handy and give it a shot once in a while. The stuff sprays and masks pretty nicely. I'll quickly admit that my finishes aren't world-class (the only rubbing they get is when they're covered with castor!), but they seem to hold up for the practical life of the plane, and save me worrying about compatibility issues.

This allows me the most important part of the hobby as far as I'm concerned, which is that, when they fly, they really are MY airplanes!

Ken Cook Mon Nov 12, 2012 7:11 pm

Kim, that's some awesome stuff you have there. I really dig the paint schemes as well. My thumbs up to you. Ken

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